Target's security breach has sparked a war of words between the National Retail Federation and the Independent Community Bankers of America.

It started with a letter to congressional leaders from the NRF, which represents 12,000 retailers. The association urged "adoption of meaningful steps to fight cyber theft and credit card fraud," and said that retailers are ready to do their part.

Banks? Maybe not so much, the letter implied.

"For years, banks have continued to issue fraud-prone magnetic stripe cards to U.S. customers, putting sensitive financial information at risk while simultaneously touting the security benefits of next generation “PIN and Chip” card technology for customers in Europe and dozens of other markets," the letter noted.

"It is time for our partners in the card industry to invest in next generation technology to secure sensitive bank card data. Adopting 'PIN and Chip' security measures in the U.S. (as the branded card networks and issuing banks have done to protect European consumers) would be a good start. As long as bank cards continue to be issued with outdated and fraud-prone magnetic stripe (and signature) security, it is clear American card holders will remain largely unprotected."

"Retailers and their processors — not banks — are responsible for the systems in their stores that process payment cards," said ICBA President and CEO Camden Fine. "ICBA hopes that the massive retail security breaches at Target, Neiman Marcus and others will spur retailers to adopt security solutions going forward."

Nearly every security breach at retailers has revealed flawed practices, ICBA contended. Some retailers didn't even have the technology to know there had been a security breach until banks or other third parties notified them about it, the association noted. Plus, upgraded card security technology such as "Pin and Chip" wouldn't have kept hackers from getting the personal information of more than 70 million consumers, it argued.

"Retailers must step up to the responsibility that comes with handling the personal information of consumers," ICBA stated in one final dig at the NRF.